Sundered is Coming – Thoughts on the Pre-Alpha

I recently received a Pre-Alpha code for a game I have been looking forward to since my hands on at Twitch.con. The game is Sundered and it is developed by Thunder Lotus Games the same people who brought us the Excellent Jotun(see link for the review at the bottom of page)I took only a few short minutes for this to become one of my most anticipated games of 2017. No small feet considering all the greatness we are going to experience this coming year. Sundered has an official release date of July 2017, and its going to be epic. It is set to release on the PC/Linux/Mac and the PS4.

If you have never heard of Sundered before, let me break it down for you. The simplest way to explain it is Castlevania SOTN meets Moon Knight(see pics below). It is a metroidvania style platformer.

MoonKnight

Castlevania SOTN

First thing you notice when playing Sundered is the art style is stunning. The 2D sprites are glorious to behold. When your character moves his cape flows appropriately and the background just seems alive. The creatures you fight are mostly grotesque, but extremely well animated. You can tell this was a labor of love for the artists. It is a rare treat to get such gorgeous hand drawn animation. This is a game you have to see to believe. In todays day and age of Open world masterpieces with the focus on how large can we build our worlds and how many textures can we throw on the screen, it is a truly beautiful thing to see Sundered running on my monitor.

Once you get passed the fantastic visuals you start to notice just how fluid your character moves. If a game’s controls are done well enough you don’t think about them. The controller in a sense becomes an extension of you. I played Sundered with an XB1 controller and never felt any lag or the need to look down at the controller to figure out what I was doing. This is how all games should feel. If you are playing and thing about your controller then it takes you out of the experience. All the games that I would put on my favorites of all time list, have controls I don’t have to think about, Sundered is no different.

The Audio in the Sundered Alpha was great, everything from the enemies death quells to the weapons sounds and of course the soundtrack. The music in Sundered is both eerie and epic. It works really well in building up tension and helping you get pumped up to destroy any enemy that would stand in your way. I will have this soundtrack..oh yes.. I will.

Overall I had a great time playing Sundered, I will be doing and posting a lets play very soon. There is also a Kickstarter campaign and I recommend you support this title if you can. You can also get into the Beta if you support with more then $15. I will post all the info below. I cannot wait for the full release and will have a full review closer to the official release, in the meantime check back for any updates on this terrific game.